Government seeks anti-terror consensus

The government will "seek a consensus" on plans to increase the amount of time terrorism suspects can be held without charge and other anti-terror measures, the Queen told parliament today.

Background papers released as the planned new security bill was announced in the Queen's speech avoided the most controversial issue - the exact number of days the government wants police to be able to hold suspects without charging or releasing them.

The government will "seek a consensus on changes to the law on terrorism so the police and other agencies have the powers they need to protect the public while preserving essential liberties," the monarch told the assembled MPs and peers.

The planned counter-terrorism bill, which the government hopes to publish by Christmas, aims to set up a sex offender-style register for terrorists released from prison, as well as prevent those convicted of terror offences from travelling abroad.

The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, has given her support to proposals to increase the limit on pre-trial detention for terrorism suspects from the current 28 days, with a doubling to 56 days raised as a possibility by one of her junior ministers yesterday.

However, the Home Office background papers do not specify any desired limit, saying only: "The government is currently considering options in relation to pre-charge detention in terror cases."

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of the civil rights group Liberty, said the Queen's speech "rightly keeps the hope of an anti-terror consensus alive".

"There's still not a shred of evidence for extending the longest period of pre-charge detention in the west," she said.

"In the face of genuine constructive alternatives, extension would smack of political posture."

The Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Nick Clegg, a party leadership contender, said there was "not a shred of evidence" that an extended permitted detention period was needed.

"It is sad that the government seems intent on returning to the issue of 28-day detention in a misguided attempt to demonstrate superficial toughness on terrorism," Mr Clegg added.

The extension of pre-charge detention has proved a consistently tricky one for the Labour government.

Tony Blair suffered his first Commons defeat as prime minister in 2005 while trying to push through an extension of the then 14-day limit to 90 days. Instead, MPs voted for the current 28-day period.

The 56-day period, flagged up as the likely government target by the home office minister, Tony McNulty, yesterday has already drawn condemnation.

The Labour MP David Winnick told BBC radio there was "no evidence" it was necessary to go beyond 28 days, and said the 56-day figure seemed to have been chosen "out of a hat".

The Home Office documents also confirm that the new bill will allow police to question terror suspects about evidence that emerges after they have been charged - something that is not currently permitted.

The legislation will also allow "adverse inferences" to be drawn by prosecutors if the suspects failed to mention something later relied on in court.

The new measures will also seek to close a loophole in anti-terrorism laws, revealed earlier this year, in which police are not allowed to share fingerprints or DNA samples from terrorism suspects held under control orders.

The forthcoming bill will set up a register similar to that used for sex offenders to keep a watch on convicted terrorists after they have been released from prison.

The so-called notification orders would require released terrorists to keep police informed about any change of address or name, as well as any other address that the person intends to stay at for five days or more.

Failing to do so would be a criminal offence punishable by up to five years in prison.